Exciting New Product Launch on Hochanda Tomorrow!!

Hello! Sue from Imagination here with our latest news. What an incredibly busy few weeks it's been. We got back from Glasgow a couple of days ago - we had a lovely time at the SEC, thank you to everyone who visited the stand - and now we're preparing for Kerri-Ann's shows on Hochanda tomorrow, our trip to the NEC in Birmingham next week for the Hobbycrafts show AND our next One Day Special on Hochanda. Add all of that to all the new products we're going to be launching this year and there isn't time for our feet to touch the ground!

For right now, I am very excited to tell you about our Brand New TV Product Launch tomorrow, Saturday 11 March at 8am, 1pm and 5pm GMT on Hochanda TV. Kerri-Ann will be showing you the very latest trend in Planner/Journals but with an exciting twist! What else would you expect from Imagination Crafts?!! Not only can you decorate the fabulous canvas covers, but we are also launching some brand new stamp sets that work perfectly with the planner/journals. We have words, numbers, phrases, banners, months, fabulous little icons and much more.

Of course, the show wouldn't be complete without some of our new Art Stencils, which we know you are absolutely loving. We are also bringing you some beautiful, brand new, Art Stamps. They are really so sweet, we don't think they will last very long so please don't miss out on these.

We have a brand new product on the show called Shake and Gilt. WOW! is all I can say to this and it works on FABRIC too!!  What a plus that is! I have never seen such intense shimmer and shine.

I will admit to you that initially I wasn't sure about planners/journals, but after working with them I am absolutely hooked - I love them because I can truly express myself and my creativity and keep a record of it. I am doing one for my garden and I keep nipping back to turn the pages and take another look. I feel so inspired and sometimes when you are feeling like you've lost your 'mojo', these books of inspiration are just the boost we need. 

Lisa and Martina have made the gorgeous samples you see in this newsletter. Alongside Jennifer & Kerri-Ann they have worked so hard to get as many made as they could for tomorrow's programmes, (what else would you expect from such a talented team??!!). They all inspire me so much.

Kerri-Ann's first programme tomorrow is at 8am GMT with the lovely Yannis. She will be back at 1pm and 5pm GMT. She will do as many demos as she can fit in and remember, if you have questions you can email the Hochanda studio, or visit our Facebook page, where Kirsten will be commenting on the programmes and posting product information, etc.

That's all from me for now. I hope you can tune in to tomorrow's programmes. And if you're visiting the Hobbycrafts show at the NEC, please visit the Imagination Crafts stand - A12 - where you'll find Lisa B and I demoing lots of our new products, we would love to see you.

Have a great weekend and keep crafting!

Love, Sue and all at Imagination

Watch Hochanda on Freeview channel 85, Sky channel 663, Freesat 817 and live at www.hochanda.com

Tuesday Tutorial - Rusty Patina Canvas by Kirsten Sheridan

Good morning, Kirsten here with a canvas I made a few weeks ago, but am only now getting a chance to do a blog post about it. This is not a proper tutorial, as I got so engrossed in what I was doing that I forgot to take a lots of photos, but I'll do my best to explain everything as I go along.............

The canvas is a Tim Holtz pre-printed one called District Market. It had been in my stash for a while so I decided it was time I used it. The first thing I did was to cover it with tissue paper that I first crumpled & uncrumpled, so that it was already creased. This was the first layer of texture.

The second layer of texture was Imagination's FANTASTIC new Structure Paste around the edges, scraping the excess over the rest of canvas. 

If you haven't tried this structure paste, you need to. I've used many & this one is very possibly the best. Not only is it extremely easy to apply - it goes through stencils beautifully - it dries incredibly quickly. A thin layer will dry in four/five minutes, a thicker layer in about 15 minutes, if put on/beside a heater. You can dry the surface with a heat tool, then carve/stamp in to the paste & if you decide that you want another layer on top of the first you can do that too, as I did on the canvas. I applied the second layer very roughly, adding more paste in different areas & working it with a palette knife to create lots of texture. The second layer was dry in about 2 hours.............

I had gathered lots of bits & pieces from my stash & while I was working Lisa B came over & we had a go at placing everything to see what we liked. I die cut & the butterfly & the large cog a number of times from black card, dry embossing the top layers, glued them together & painted them with Rustique Rusty Patina............

Once the paste was dry I began dry brushing Verdigris Rusty Patina over the canvas & this is where the photos got forgotten. I just kept adding RP, wiping it off certain areas, adding more, etc. In some areas I also dry brushed white gesso over the Verdigris. If you use a dry brush & very small amounts the Rusty Patina will be dry in seconds, allowing you to work quickly.................

Once I was happy with how the Verdigris RP looked I moved on to using Rustique over the 

Structure Paste at the edges, again dry brushing to build up the colour. I also used 

Black Starlight Wax on the very edges of the canvas & Bronze Alchemy Wax to highlight the texture. These steps were repeated until I was satisfied...........

Time to start adding focal images. While the Structure Paste was drying I had painted everything with Rustique RP, then sanding back areas & applying Black Starlight Wax & Inca Gold & 

Bronze Alchemy Wax..................

I wanted the Stampendous Fran-tage glitter 'flowing' from the spoon, so I mixed Sparkle Medium & Decoupage Glue with glitter from my stash, applied it to the spoon & canvas, then sprinkled the Fran-tage on top...............

(I left this to dry overnight, the Sparkle Medium & Decoupage Glue mix was very wet, but the texture held extremely well).

The next day I decided more texture was required, so I applied dots of glue to the canvas & placed the large mica pieces from the Fran-tage glitter on top.....................

I also used a hot glue gun to run glue down the canvas under the cog, brushing the glue with Inca Gold Alchemy Wax when it had set..................

I spent quite a lot of time at this stage on adding more Rusty Patina, Black Starlight Wax & 

Alchemy Wax & I loved that I was able to do that. Rusty Patina is 100% opaque, so it will cover whatever's underneath it completely. Starlight Wax is semi-opaque & I wanted the very edges of the canvas to be dark, so I just made sure each layer of wax was completely dry before I added another.

(It was my first time using Starlight Wax & I'm happy to say it's as easy to use as any of Imagination's other products).

So, after all that I hope you're still with me & here's the finished canvas............ 

           

                

We'll be back on Hochanda this coming Saturday, March 11, with three one hour shows from Kerri-Ann. More information nearer the end of the week.......

Thank you for visiting the Imagination Crafts' blog today, we hope to be back soon. 

Kirsten